Aizawa Taki in 10 Settings
by blinkie
Summary: This is for the LJ community 10 settings. Ten Taki fics will be set in ten different settings. Please, to Taki haters: I am a Taki fan and I hate flames, so don't bother reading if you'd be hatin'. Thank you! Chapter 3 up: Hospital. Rated for language.
1. Car

-1**Done for the "10settings" challenge on Livejournal. Please check it out and join!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gravitation nor its characters. They belong to Maki Murakami.

**Title:** Best Friend

**Word Count:** 730

**Pairing:** implied Ma-kun x Taki

**Warnings:** Language and mild shonen-ai.

**Summary:** Taki wakes up disoriented in his car.

"Unh," Taki groaned. Bright sunshine filtered through his eyelids. He dragged an arm over his eyes and shifted in bed. Funny, the bed felt harder and slanted and intolerably warmer than usual.

A car honked, so loud it seemed to be in the bedroom. Taki stirred, grabbing at the threads of sleep, but the muggy air choked him.So he opened his eyes - and promptly sat bolt upright, uttering a grunt of surprise.

Ma-kun, leaning on the car door with his back to Taki, glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "Hey hey, finally back from the dead."

Wide-eyed, Taki blinked. Beyond Ma-kun stood Bonbon, the 'Closed' sign hanging on the door and the windows dark. Of course. The club opened its doors every night at 9 PM - and judging at how high the sun sat in the sky, evening was years away.

Dull pain pulsed at his temples, and his eyes felt swollen. He clutched at his head, groaning, and fell back. "What the _fuck _am I doing in my car?" His throat was dry, and when he swallowed, the taste of stale sour saliva filled his mouth. He gagged and pushed his door open, spitting onto the pavement.

"Well, good morning to you too." Ma-kun took a deep drag on his cigarette and appraised him with twinkling eyes. "You don't remember?"

Taki swiped his hand across his mouth. "You think I'd fuckin' ask if I knew?"

"Touché." Laughter from the blond. "Long or short version?"

Taki glared.

"Okay, short. Hey Tachi, don't you love shrimp?"

Caught off-guard, Taki nodded. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing." Ma-kun broke into a grin. "The way you barfed 'em up last night, I figured you hated 'em. My bad."

Taki's eyes widened in horror. "Shit, did I…?"

"Mm-hmm. And if I didn't love you so much, I'd so be turned off now," came the cheeky reply.

"Fuuuuck!" Taki groaned. "_That _bad?"

"Well, kinda somewhere up on the top three. Good thing I got you to the bathroom in time."

"Rei…did she…?" Taki cringed, remembering the stunning model he'd hounded months for a date.

"She actually felt sorry for you and offered to take you home, but I told her I'd take you home safe." He looked pointedly at Taki. "Funny we're still on the street at 10 in the fuckin' morning, eh?"

Taki blinked, completely missing the look. "Uh. Yeah. Why ?"

"What do you mean, 'why'? We fuckin' camped in your car because you, being the total spaz you are, fuckin' lost your keys!"

"I did?"

"Yeah. I checked everywhere you could possibly hide them. Nothing. Unless you gave 'em to her as a token of your love." Ma-kun rolled his eyes.

"Wait, you mean to tell me we slept in my car, in downtown Tokyo, because I lost my keys."

"Right on."

"Where are _your _keys?"

"I left them at home."

"So we don't have any keys to get into the apartment."

"Two points. The locksmith's open now."

Taki groaned. "That's a hundred fuckin' dollars!"

"Hundred _fifty_. Oh, wait." Ma-kun reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow sheet of paper. "For you. A present from the friendly city government."

Taki's eyes widened. "A parking ticket?!"

"Yep. Look there, it says 'No Parking Mondays to Fridays, 8 AM to 4 PM. _And_ parking in front of a hydrant. Tachi, that's gonna cost."

"Fuck."

"_Plus_ you owe me a new jacket. You ruined mine." Ma-kun reached into the window and mussed Taki's hair. "This wouldn't have happened if I'd let you go off with that skank, eh?"

"Damn right you should've." Taki glared sullenly at Ma-kun, and got a short chuckle in reply.

"No way. Y'know, when I didn't hand you over last night, she got really pissed and said she doesn't need a wuss who can't hold his alcohol down. She left with this punk dude. So gay. Mohawks and leather."

"Her ex. She really said that?"

"Yeah. And that she went out with you just so you'd stop calling her."

"The _fuck_?"

Ma-kun shrugged and smiled sympathetically at Taki's crestfallen expression. He opened the driver's door. "Told ya, stick with me and you'll be forever happy. But do you listen? Nooo. Now move your lazy ass over. I'm driving. First the locksmith, then a shower, then breakfast. I'm hungry."

Taki smiled gratefully and slid to the passenger seat.

- end -

Reviews appreciated!


	2. Graduation

**Author's Note: **I've searched high and low for info on Japanese graduation ceremonies, but I couldn't find any mentioning how honor students are awarded, so I decided to pattern this after the graduation ceremonies I know. J

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gravitation nor any of its characters. I do own Dr. Aizawa Oribe and Fumiko.

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**Title: **Medals

**Word Count:** 673

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"Taki, you're getting honors," Ma-kun whispered excitedly beside him.

"I know," came the subdued reply.

"'I know'? What kinda answer is that?! I'm more excited than you!" Ma-kun punched the sullen youth lightly on the arm.

"I'm not gonna shriek like a fuckin' girl, Ma. It's no big deal. It's pretty easy getting honors, if you don't slack off so much." Taki replied with a pointed look.

Ma-kun stuck his tongue out. "Listen to the smart one talk. Be nice. It's graduation! Finally, out of this hellhole."

Taki laughed softly. "Damn right."

"You going to Osaka University, right?"

"Hush, they're calling the names now."

Over the loudspeaker: "With honors: Abe Hirotada, Sato Akiko, Tanaka Rikyu." In their school, whenever an honor student was called, the parents would stand and meet their child at the aisle and together they ascend the stage to receive the medal from the principal. The beaming parent would pin the medal on her child's lapel and then descend, some as slowly as possible, basking in the spotlight.

When the students and their parents left the stage, Ms. Haruko looked up from the podium. Although her mouth remained set, a twinkle in her eyes broke her somber expression. "And now, second honors. Aizawa Taki."

Taki stood and proceeded to the aisle. As he passed, his classmates grinned and whooped silently, some giving thumbs-up signs. Taki managed a small smile, and upon reaching the aisle, bowed as required, and ascended the stage. Alone.

The low buzz permeating the auditorium suddenly died down. Ms. Haruko's eyebrows lifted a fraction but he pretended to miss the look, passing her with a deadpan expression. It seemed only the principal understood what was going on. With a sympathetic smile, he pinned the medal onto Taki's lapel. Again Taki missed the look and descended the stage. As he made his way back to his seat, the grins and cheers were gone; everyone seemed to suddenly find their folded hands fascinating.

Ma-kun, being Ma-kun, immediately got on Taki's case. "Dude, where are your folks?! What happened?" Taki sighed, noticing his classmates in the row ahead slightly lean backward. Loud enough for them to hear, he replied, "Dad had an emergency at the hospital, and mom's down with a virus." His classmates seemed to deflate back to their normal positions.

"That majorly sucks man. If I got honors, I think my mom would have the whole frikkin' _town _in tow."

Taki shrugged and stared down at his hands. Good for Ma. Taki wished his parents were as supportive. But no, only the best could satisfy them. Not one person here needed to know he lied, that his parents were lounging at home, Dr. Aizawa Oribe probably poring over medical journals and reports and elegant Fumiko entertaining fellow bored snooty wives at another tea party, boycotting their only son's graduation simply because he wasn't valedictorian.

_I'm not good enough for them. _Not he, with his near-perfect grades and amazing vocal talent. Bitterly, he recalled the time he ran up to his father with the _Osaka Times_ and excitedly showed him an enthusiastic praise of his performance at the school musical. His dad had thrown the newspaper in the trash without even looking at it.

_Enough with that foolishness. You're going to become a doctor, _he'd said sternly.

Taki recalled they never attended a single show of the one-week run.

As soon as the ceremonies were over, Taki made his way towards the exit. He paused by the door, fingering his medal and recalling all the sleepless nights suffered for this fancy piece of metal.

When the janitor cleaned the auditorium later that evening, he would find a medal with the name of Aizawa Taki on the seat next to the door. He would bring it to the principal's office and the principal, when he comes in the next morning, would call the Aizawa household. But by then Taki, with only a knapsack of clothes and $400 in his billfold, would've already arrived in Tokyo, leaving a medical scholarship and an uncaring family behind.

- end -


	3. Hospital

-1This fic is done for the LJ fanfic community "10settings".

**Title:** To Hurt and to Heal (theme: hospital)

**Word Count:** 659

**Summary:** Taki's father is in the hospital. Some old hurts come to light.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gravitation nor its characters. They are the rightful property of Maki Murakami.

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So I'm granted a week off from work, and where do I spend it? At the fuckin' hospital. This is the stuff vacations are made of. Fuck.

It's not me in the bed lying like cold dead fish, with tubes sticking in my arms and up my nose. It's my dad. Funny, y'know? You see, I had the unfortunate bad luck to pick up my phone yesterday. Unless I'm expecting a call, I usually let the machine handle 'em. So maybe it was divine intervention that I picked up. Anyway, it was my mom pleading for me to come home. Dad's car crashed through a guardrail and down a ravine and he's in 'critical condition' at the hospital. Layman's terms, it basically means, 'sneeze-and-he'll-probably-die".

I'll sneeze. Fuck divine intervention.

I had my week planned and I wasn't going to let the old geezer ruin it. So I said no.

But shit happens, and it always happens to me. The flight to Thailand was cancelled because of a storm. Kaoru broke up with me - that two-timing _bitch_ - and Ma-kun's MIA, probably stoned shit somewhere in Tokyo or Algeria, hell if I know. He's not shown himself since we last fought three days ago.

So for lack of anything better to do, I fly down to Osaka. It was three days after my mom called. I fly down thinking if Lady Luck loves me, all I'll see is a pine box.

She hates me.

Back to now. Keeping a bedside vigil with my elegant overdressed mom. I've been here for fifteen minutes when Mom breaks the silence:

"Taki, I know you and your father have had problems before…"

Voted "Father and Son Most Likely to Kill Each Other in a Week" in a mock poll by my classmates before graduation. "Problems", my dear mother, is an understatement.

I glance at the body on the bed. The highly esteemed Dr. Aizawa Oribe - perpetually-tanned fanatic of early-morning jogs - looks gray and wrinkled and old and part of the scenery of this sterile hospital suite, with all its mechanical beeps and tubes and dials.  
Like he belongs in this fancy chrome-lined death box.

"It's been two years already…He regrets everything, you know. Please try to p-p-pray for him." Her voice starts to crack and she coughs, trying to hide it.

Bitch_please. _Don't cry, you don't know how to do it.

Then _his_ eyes flutter open and he squints at me for the longest time before saying my name. I stare down without flinching.

"Taki," he repeats, and his eyebrows draw down. _What the fuck, a deathbed lecture? _It takes me a moment to realize he was smiling. I think I stop breathing right there. And when he reaches for my hand and squeezes it, I couldn't snatch it back in time. That's how shocked I am.

First time he smiled at me.

"You're back," he whispers, and closes his eyes.

The monitor keeps its steady _beep-beep-beep. _

A loud sob startles me. I draw my hand back and look at my mother. She was smiling while crying - or crying while smiling. Whatever, it's downright bizarre. I've never seen Mother cry before. Her happy drugs made sure of that.

"Taki, he woke up! That was the first time! I've got to call the doctor!" And off she stumbles into the hallway, all mascara and smeared make-up.

I turn away and leave the room, away from the nurses' station where my mom was crowing the good news. I don't know what to feel. I think I feel nothing. Or maybe something. Regret? I've numbed myself emotionally that I don't know how to react anymore. Right before my eyes, the façade of the perfect dysfunctional family I've known has shattered. Everything's real now. And as I push the door open and step into the windy night, all I know is that I'm sorry it was an accident that brought us all together again.

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**Author's Note:** I have so much fun writing Taki. All we know about him is his dark side. It's interesting to explore his past and make up stories that jive with his personality as we know it. I'd appreciate reviews. Thank you! ;p


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